Radio station selector



April 18, 11933.

mur 1 www /7 f6 WITNESSES INVENTOR @o w ff/YM ATTOR N EYS April 18, 1933. H. V. GRIMES I 1,904,219

RADIO STATION SELECTQR Filed June 14, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WITN ESSES Patented Apr. 18, 1933 rrao STATES PATENT OFFICE HERBERT V. GRIMEB, 0F ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, .ASSIGNOR T0 WILLIAM TAYLB, 0F ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY RADIO STATION SELECTOR Application led June 14,

rl`his invention relates to radio station se lectors.

It is among the prime objects of the present invention to provide anovel and improved means for automatically tuning radio receiving circuits.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an automat-ic time-controlled means for making or breaking the radio receiving circuit. Y

A further objectof the present invention is to provide time-controlled means for periodically changing the condenser of a radio receiving s et whereby different stations may be periodically selected thereby.

A further object of the present invention is to provide time-controlled means for controlling the actuation of a spring motor which is associated with a radio condenser to move the condenser to vary the stations selected thereb A further object of the present invention is to provide in combination with a radio receiving circuit including a condenser, timecontrolled means operable to selectively move the condenser whereby the receiving circuit will be tuned to a predetermined station and to periodically change the condenser after a predetermined interval of time and to break the supply of power to the circuit at a predetermined time. y

Other objects and features of the present invention include the combination and interrelation of the parts whereby the whole forms a novel, improved and simple structure well designed to meet the demands of economic manufacture.

Numerous other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following specilication taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which y Figure 1 is a top plan view of the device within a cabinet and with the cover removed;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation` of the device mounted within the cabinet;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on lines 3-3 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction o the arrows;

1929. Serial No. 370,836.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the selector disk g may be of any conventional design and-con-v struction and which preferably includes a hinged door 11 in the front face thereof, which is provided with a glass 12 through which may be seen a time-controlled mechanism shown in the form of a clock 13, the time spring and alarm spring of which may be suitably wound by the forwardly projecting angular arbors 14. The alarm mechanism may also be set by a forwardly extending angular arbor 15 associated with the alarm hand` The front faceof the cabinet 10 is also provided with an apertured dial plate 16 and a manual control knob 17, directly in back of which within the cabinet a spring motor mechanism generally indicated by the numeral 18, is provided, which may be Vwound by the proJection of a winding arbor 19 which extends through the front of thepanel of the cabinet.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the motor 18 which lmay be wound by the arbor 19, includes a train of winding gears 20, together with an internal springFgenerally indicated by the dotted lines 21 in ig. 1. Upon release of the spring 21, the motor 18 is adapted to rotate a pinion 22 upon which a driving gear 23 is mounted as shown in Figs. 2 and 6. The driving gear 23 is mounted in driving relation with a ear 24 mounted upon a condenser controling shaft 25.

For controlling the rotation of the shaft 25 a selector disk 26 is mounted thereon, the shaft 25 being preferably iiattened as at 27 to receive the radial cut 28 of the selector disk. The disk is securely associated with the shaft 25 by engagement of the disk 26 between a flange 29 and securing nut 30, as shown in Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 7, the disk 26 is provided with a plurality of projecting portions 31, rotation of the disk adapted to be prevented by the engagement of one of the projections 31 with a pivoted control lever 32 which is pivotally mounted as at 33 upon the housing of the motor 18.

For controlling the movements of the lever 32 by the action of the clock mechanism 13, the minute hand arbor 34 of the clock 13 is extended rearwardly from the casing of the clock and terminates in a crank 35 upon which is mounted a connecting link 36, the opposite end of which is provided with an elongated aperture 37, which receives therethrough a pin 38 carried by the extremity of the lever 32, the arrangement being such that a lost motion connection is provided between the crank 35 and the lever 32, whereby the lever will be moved counterclockwise as shown in Fig. 1 only when the crank 35 is in extreme left position. The lever 32 is normally retained in clockwise rotating position as shown in Fig. 1, by the medium of a contraction spring which is associated Wit-h the opposite extremity of the lever 32.

For manually controlling the lever 32 to release it from engagement with the projection 31 of the selector disk 26, a releasing rod 40 is provided, the inner end of which terminates in a pair of upwardly and downwardly right-angularly extending lingers 41 and 42, respectively. The upper finger 41 is adapted to extend through an elongated aperture 43 in the forward end of the lever 32 and is mounted for lost motion connection therewith, whereby automatic rotational movement of the lever 32 about its pivot 33, will not affect the rod 40, but whereby outward movement of the rod in response to outward movement of its terminal knob 44 will act to move the lever against the tension of the spring 39 in counterclockwise position, thus releasing the lever 32 from its engagement under the projection 31 of the disk 26.

For preventing rotation of the shaft 25 when the lever 32 is moved to release the disk .26, the arbor 34 is provided intermediate the crank 35 and the casing of the clock 13, with a cam element 46 over which rides a brake rod 47, which is journaled in a bearing 48 and which extends therefrom to terminate in an engaging finger 49, which when the brake d rod 47 is allowed to move downwardly to its lowermost position, moves therewith toward the motor and engages with the teeth of a brake gear 50 to prevent rotation thereof, it will be understood that the brake gear is in rotating association with the train of the motor 18 and thus with the shaft 25. For manually preventing rotation of the shaft 25 when the lever 32 is removed from the disk 26, the lower finger 42 of the rod 40 is provided, which when the rod is moved outwardly to release the lever 32, moves to bring its extremity into engagement with the gear 50 as will be readily seen in Fig. 3 of the drawsor controlling the supply of current to the radio receivlng set, the supply circuit including conductors 51 and 52 is provided, which may be bridged by a switch diagram-l matically indicated at 53 in Fig. 3. The conductor 52 also extends to the casing of the clock 13, while the conductor 51 extends to an insulated contact member 54 carried by the casing. The alarm mechanism of the clock is arranged to swing upwardly a pivoted contact member 55 to the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 3, the arrangement being such that when the clock train has moved a predetermined distance, the alarm mechanism will be released in the usual manner and the contact member 55 will move up to bridge the Contact between the casing of the clock and the contact point 54. It will be understood that the circuit arrangement may be such as to provide for the opening of the circuit by the alarm mechanism illustrated as Well as for closing the circuit as here illustrated.

For manually rotating the shaft 25, the knob 17 is mounted on the front of the cabinet on the extremity of the shaft 25 which extends therethrough. The shaft is further provided with a suitably calibrated indicating disk 56 which is visible through the aperture in the plate 16. The gear 24 which is arranged for driving the shaft 25, is loosely mounted on the shaft and drives the shaft through a pawl 57 carried thereby which engages a co-operating ratchet 58 mounted for rotation upon the shaft 25.

From the foregoing constrnction it will be seen that manual rotation in` a. counterclockwise direction may be had by rotation of the knob 17 when the lever 32 is moved by the arbor 34 out of engagement with the selector disk 26. It will be seen that such counterclockwise rotation of the shaft will not impart rotation to the gear 24 but that the motor 18 will impart rotation to the shaft 25 in clockwise direction. It will further be understood that the device is here arranged for association in any desired manner with the usual control knob 59 of the radio receiving apparatus, as indicated at 60 in Fig. 1 of the rawings.

This form of the invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with radio receivers in which the condenser plates are arranged for free complete rotation in either direction. It will be understood that the coupling of the shaft 25 with the knob 59 may be as illustrated or any equivalent arrangement may be utilized. It will further be understood that the disks 26 are readily removed from the shaft and may be replaced by disks cut in any desired manner to control the amount of rotation of the shaft 25, and any desired number of station projections 31 may be grovided on the disks 26. As indicated in igs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, it will be seen that upon the engagement of one of the projections 31 with the lever 32, the lever which is preferably formed of semiresilient material, is depressed by engagement of the projection 31, as shown in Fig. 4. Thus when the lever 32 is moved out of engagement with the projection 31. it will spring forwardly to the position shown in Fig. 5, and may nottherefore be received in the same projection until after a complete revolution of the disk. Thus immediately upon the removal of the lever 32 from the projection 31, no rotation of the condenser is had until such rotation is accomplished by movement of the knob 17 or through the mechanism of the motor 18. j

In the operation -of the device assuming the switch 53 to be opened and the switch 55 opened as indicated in the full lines in Fig. 3, it will be seen that the energization of the receiving circuit is broken and that upon prede- `termined movement of the clock mechanism,

the alarm mechanism will be actuated, thus closing the switch and energizing the radio circuit at any desired predetermined time. With the device in position as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, it will be seen that the condenser is set for the reception of any predetermined station, as, for instance station WOR, as indicated. At the expiration of a predetermined length of time, the arbor 34 will rotate whereby the crank 35 will move the lever 32 in a counterclockwise direction from that shown in Fig. 1 and the lever 32 will be released from *the projection 31 of the station VOR and will assume the position shown in Fig. 5. No movement of the condenser will take place, however, until further rotation of the arbor moves the cam 46 to lift the brake rod 47, which will cause its extremity 49 to disengage the gear 50. Thus the motor will be free to rotate and will rotate the shaft 25 until such time as the next projection 31 engages the lever 32. It will thus be seen that at predetermined intervals a different station may be automatically tuned to by theapparatus.

It will be seen that by the provision ofthe rod 4() and its associated parts, the device may be rendered inoperativeV and may be manually controlled bythe knob 17. It will be noted that suitable means may be provided for rotating the rod in outward position, such means being illustrated in Fig. 2, which uincludes a projection 62 mounted on the rod 40 which may freely pass through the keyhole aperture 63 in the cabinet 10 and the projection received on the outer wall of the cabinet to retain the rod in outward position against the tension of the spring 69.

From the foregoing it will readily be seen ai-bor, said crank and that the present invention provides a novel and im roved structure which' may readily accom invention. It will be understood thatithedinf vention is not confined to the specific structural details herein shown and described,but lthat numerous changes and modifications and the full use of equivalents of the present invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as outlined in the appended claims.

lVbat is claimed is:

l. A station selector for radio receivin apparatus, including a spring motor, a sha t operable thereby, means for rotating a radio receiving condenser by rotation of said shaft, means for automatically controlling the movement of said motor, said last-mentioned means including a time-controlled mechanism, an arbor extending therefrom and terminating in a crank, and a cam mounted on said arbor, said crank and cam being jointly operable to control rotation of said motor.

2. A station selector for radio receiving apparatus, including a spring motor, a shaft operable thereby, means for rotating a radio receiving condenser by rotation of said shaft, means for automatically controlling the movement of said motor, said last-mentioned means including a time-controlled .mechaiiisin, an arbor extending therefrom and terminating in a crank, a cam mounted on said arbor, said crank and cam being jointly operable to control rotation of said motor, and a lever associated with said crank and movable thereby.

3. A station selector for radio receivin apparatus, including a spring motor, a sha t operable thereby, means for rotating a radio receiving condenser by rotation of said shaft, means for automatically controlling the movement of said motor, said last-mentioned means including a time-controlled mechanism, an arbor extending therefrom and terminating in a crank, a cam mounted on said arbor, said crank and cam being jointly operable to control rotation of said motor, a lever associated with said crank and movable thereby, and a disk carried by said shaft for engagement with said lever to control the duration of rotation of said shaft.

4. A station selector for radio receivin apparatus, including a spring motor, a sha t operable thereby, means for rotating a radio receiving condenser by rotation of said shaft, means for automatically controlling the movement of said motor, said last-mentioned means including a time-controlled mechanism, an arbor extending therefrom and terminating in a crank, a cam mounted on said cam being jointly opei'able to control rotation of said motor, a lever associated with said crank and movable thereby, a disk carried by said shaftfor engagement with said lever to control the duraish the various objects of the present.

tion of rotation of said shaft, and manual means for reventing automatic movement of said sha by said motor.

5. A station selector for radio receivin 5 apparatus including a spring motor, a sha operable thereby, means for rotating a radio receivin condenser by rotation of said shaft, means or automatically a controlling the movement of said motor, said last-mentioned l0 means including a time-controlled mechanism, an arbor extending therefrom and terminating in a crank, a cam mounted on said arbor, said crank and cam being jointly operable to control rotation of said motor, a lever associated with said crank and movable thereby, a disk carried by said shaft for engagement with said lever to control the duration of rotation of said shaft, manual means for preventing automatic movement of said *a shaft by said motor, and manual means for rotating said shaft.

6. In a device of'the character described, a sprinmotor, a shaft operable thereby, means or connecting said shaft to a radio condenser, time-controlled means for riodically releasing said motor to rotate said shaft, means carried by said shaft to control the duration of rotation of said shaft, said means includin a disk mounted for rotation with said shat, a lever associated with said disk and moved by said time-controlled means to control the engagement of said lever with, said disk, said disk including a plurality of projections adaEted to engage said lever to stop rotation t ereof, and separate me'ans associated with said time-controlled means operable to control the energization of a radio circuit;

HERBERT V. GRIMES. 

